Hi!! Just wondering, how vital is it to play more than one instrument for bands?? I'll be playing the alto and tenor saxes this year in jazz band, but is it neccessary to play other instruments to get into good bands?? I'd like to play the flute, cello, French horn, and bassoon eventually...

Please share your thought on this.

Thanks!!

it depends like me i want to be a band instructor so i need to know a lot of different instruments. Or if oyu want a scholarship ot college for music you might want to try odd instruments like the oboe or bassoon

It depends on your style of playing and what your group needs. If you play a tenor sax in jazz band but the band lacks a bari sax, then it would help the group if you played bari. Also, if you play jazz a lot, then it might help if you played clarinet or trumpet as well as sax. It wouldn't help if you played bassooon (well, you never know).

Good luck.

If you persue jazz ensemble playing as a saxophonist you will be required to be able to play flute and clarinet, so that would be a good place to start.

CJ

A good set of woodwinds to learn before you leave high school are saxophone(all of them), clarinet(Eb,Bb,Alto,Bass, if possible), flute(piccolo too), and oboe and bassoon. That is, if youre choosing not to touch a brass instrument. =D

But I love the sound of the french horn.

^for those clarinets, if you can play Bb Soprano and Bass competently, you'd probably be ok- from there it's relatively easy to pick up the other two. like saxes, clarinets all have the same fingerings, so it's just a size and embouchure change. Alto embouchure is more similar to bass, while Eb soprano is more similar to Bb soprano.

<Added>

especially considering Eb and alto are probably more difficult to get your hands on.